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Mugello MotoGP Results

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) won his second race of the year at Mugello earlier today. Although the factory Honda riders battled over second place, Marc Marquez crashed out near the end of the race, handing the second spot to teammate Dani Pedrosa. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) finished third. Factory Yamaha pilot Valentino Rossi crashed out of the race on the first lap after a collision apparently caused by Alvaro Bautista (Honda), who also retired.

Pedrosa continues to lead the points. For additional details, results and points, visit the official MotoGP site here.

16 Comments

If someone ever let me design a motorcycle roadracing track, the very first thing I would do is make sure that the start/finish line was located near the beginning of a very long straight. That way there would be a dragrace to the first turn, giving the bikes time to space out a bit rather than what we see far too often now, which is the worst thing possible for the fans: first-lap pile-ups resulting in riders getting knocked out of the race before it’s really even begun.

Also, by having the start-finish line at the beginning of the straight rather than in the middle or at the end we would see many more desperate last-corner passes for the win. I’ll take those all day long over straight-line drafting passes at the stripe.

Bottom line, there really is nothing more deflating than seeing your favorite rider knocked out of a race during a first-corner melee, especially when it wasn’t his fault.

That being said, yesterday’s race once again underscored the importance of doing well during qualifying. How many times have we seen Nicky’s race end early as a result of these first-lap scrums, and now Rossi’s races keep going down the tubes this way. Even if it’s not a crash he still is putting himself behind the eight ball with these mid-pack starts. In MotoGp in particular it’s paramount that a rider get to the front of the pack where there is clear space and no one to knock you down or ruin your rhythm. When racing people like Lorenzo and Pedroza, you can’t give them a multi-second lead right off the bat. They’re too fast and consistent. You have to be up there at the front with them, right from the beginning.

It’s time to step it up in qualifying, Valentino. You have to find a way.

*If someone ever let me design a motorcycle roadracing track, the very first thing I would do is make sure that the start/finish line was located near the beginning of a very long straight. That way there would be a dragrace to the first turn, giving the bikes time to space out a bit rather than what we see far too often now, which is the worst thing possible for the fans: first-lap pile-ups resulting in riders getting knocked out of the race before it’s really even begun.*

Ahhhhh…no sorry. Just makes the pileups faster and nastier. You not remember when Sete Gibernau clipped Loris Capirossi and blew about 4 other bikes into the kitty litter at high speed going into turn one @ Catalunya 2006? Ugly scene.

By the time the field reached that first turn on my hypothetical track there would already be a decent bit of space and a clear pecking between the majority of the bikes. They would have time to slot into normal, predictable racing lines. They wouldn’t mostly all be piled together with many of them entirely off of the racing line(s), the way they so often are now.

It doesn’t work that way. With lots of bikes to draft and a bunch of guys late-braking on cold tires you’d have a more dangerous mess on your hands. It’s up to each and every one of these guys to keep their bikes upright and not waste the trip for their whole teams.

Lorenzo owns this track now. 3 years in a row. Too bad about Marquez, but Lorenzo was crashing like this in 2008 despite his monster start of his seaon with 3 pole positions and a victory. Rossi’s crash disappointing the fans was palpable. I felt that when we saw Hayden and Hopkins come together after the Andretti hairpin on the first lap in 2007 in Laguna.

Yea amazing how most of the anticipation can be zapped out of race in 3 turns…not that the outcome would have been any different. I am dissapointed in Dani. Twice so far this season he has gotten the hole shot then let Lorenzo past. That didn’t happen in years past. If he got the holeshot he usually won. Marquez is quite impressive for a rookie although he needs to learn to keep it on its wheels. I read he has crashed more than anyone else this year..something like 7 times. going to get really hurt one of these times. Just like Simo and like Crutchlow, he will learn the most consistant results come from riding and not wrecking. Not sure who he was yelling at in the sky. Lorenzo rode like Lorenzo, smooth, fast, drama free. He is one heck of a motorcycle racer. Sure wish Simoncelli and Stoner were still there.

re: “That didn’t happen in years past. If he got the holeshot he usually won.”

no worries. it’s a data thing. yamaha has “home field advantage” in italy as a result of the rossi era. the “yin” to this yang is motegi, the honda home base and HRC test track. notice that dani’s “jackrabbited” there the past 2 years, in much the same fashion as jorge just did at mugello. both instances reflect terabytes at work.

Jorge owns that track. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one disappointed with Valentino’s early retirement, all the ingredients for an Awesome race were in play for a few turns, still a good race. Moto2 was good too.